Maximize Neuroplasticity & Learning: Focus to Change Your Brain

Neuroplasticity and Brain Change

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  Neuroplasticity holds the promise for each and all of us to think differently, to learn new things, to forget painful experiences and to essentially adapt to anything that life brings us by becoming better.
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  Positive and negative events during the birth to 25 period can dramatically change our nervous system through one-trial learning, unless we work to undo those experiences.
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  After age 25, in order to get changes in our nervous system, we have to engage in a completely different set of processes in order to get those changes to occur and for them more importantly to stick around.
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  Our nervous system is available for change and can create new connections and cognitive functions through the right set of circumstances, even though we can't add new neurons throughout our lifespan.
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  A woman who was blind since birth and had her visual cortex overtaken by braille reading and hearing had a stroke that took out most of the function of her visual cortex, leaving her unable to braille read or hear, but she did recover some aspect of function.
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  The neocortex is designed to be a customized map of our individual experiences, but changes in the brain can affect our ability to use certain areas for tasks like braille reading and hearing.
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  The brain has specific neurochemicals that allow us to make changes, and recognizing what we want to change is the first step in utilizing them.
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  The idea that every experience changes your brain is a lie, as the nervous system only changes when certain neurochemicals are released and strengthen or weaken connections between neurons.
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  The adult brain is very plastic and can change based on where attention is placed, contradicting the idea that every experience changes the brain in the same way.
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  The experiences we pay careful attention to can open up plasticity in our brains, allowing us to change our brain at any point throughout our lifespan for anything we want to learn.

Attention and Focus

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  Acknowledging and discussing discomfort with someone can lead to improved understanding and potentially even friendship.
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  Attention is important because it unveils the mechanisms of brain change and plasticity, as discovered by Nobel Prize winners Hubel and Wiesel.
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  Alertness can come from various sources, including love, joy, fear, and pharmacology, but true focus comes from the acetylcholine system which can be accessed through both pharmacology and behavioral practices.
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  Practicing the ability to stare for long periods of time without blinking can be an immensely powerful portal into the mechanisms of plasticity in the brain.

Behavioral Protocols for Plasticity

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  The first step in neuroplasticity is recognizing that you want to change something and being deliberate about it.
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  The key to neuroplasticity in adulthood is to engage alertness, focus, and Non Sleep Deep Rest and deep sleep while you're in your typical bout of sleep.
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  After age 25, accessing plasticity requires work, but there are behavioral protocols that allow us to achieve it, including non-sleep deep rest, deliberate disengagement, and repetition with dopamine rewards.